2017 Fall Workshops

 

Crafting Professional Documents: Resumes and Cover Letters
Tuesday, October 3, 2017, 3:00 – 5:00 PM, 112 Kern Graduate Building
Instructor: Chenchen Huang

What is the difference between academic and non-academic job documents? How do you alter your materials to target individual audiences? This workshop will focus on strategies for drafting neat, concise, and unique materials for your academic or alt-ac job hunt. Please bring two copies of your current résumé and cover letter for workshopping with your peers.


Crafting Professional Documents: Personal Statements, Research Statements, and CVs
Tuesday, October 10, 2017, 3:00 – 5:00 PM, 112 Kern Graduate Building
Instructor: Shannon Stimpson

What do search committees look for in CVs and personal statements? How are these documents used by faculty and administrators to make hiring decisions about academic candidates? The workshop will emphasize how CVs, personal statements, and research statements differ from and complement each other. Participants will focus on genre conventions and writing with stylistic emphasis and concision. This workshop is geared specifically toward preparing documents for an academic job search. Please bring a copy of your personal statement and/or CV to the workshop.


Writing Abstracts
Tuesday, November 7, 2017, 3:00 – 5:00 PM, 112 Kern Graduate Building
Instructors: Shannon Stimpson and Chenchen Huang

Current demands in indexing, selection, and publication make the abstract an increasingly important form to master. However, even seasoned researchers and practiced writers struggle to write compelling abstracts. Our final workshop addresses the art of abstract writing and summarizing extended arguments for interest, relevance, and accuracy. As part of our discussion, we will also consider how keywords play a crucial role in indexing and access. Participants will practice identifying keywords and revising abstracts for different contexts (i.e., conference papers, journal articles, book chapters, dissertations and theses, research grants, and book proposals). Please bring a copy of an abstract for a project you are working on to the workshop.

All graduate students, regardless of disciplinary affiliation or English fluency, are welcome to enroll. Penn State encourages qualified persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact us (gwc.psu@gmail.com) in advance of your participation or visit.

Summer 2017 Workshops

 

Introducing Your Research
Tuesday, June 13, 2017, 2:00 – 4:00 PM, 112 Kern Graduate Building
Instructors: Michelle Kaczmarek and Shannon Stimpson

A strong introduction creates interest and convinces editors and reviewers that your manuscript is worth publishing. This workshop will introduce methods for revising graduate work for academic publication by focusing on the beginning of any manuscript—the introduction. It will present the necessary components for crafting a strong introduction as well as provide different methods for achieving this goal.


Strategies For Writing Literature Reviews
Wednesday, June 14, 2017, 2:00 – 4:00 PM, 112 Kern Graduate Building
Instructors: Mckenzie Eggers and Chenchen Huang

This workshop will cover the basics of writing a literature review from start to finish. Material will be applicable both to literature reviews that exist as part of a larger introduction and to more extensive literature review articles that stand on their own.  We will address how to narrow your search for sources, how to read sources critically, and how to effectively critique, analyze, and organize those sources in your literature review.


Revising For Publication
Friday, July 7, 2017, 2:00 – 4:00 PM, 112 Kern Graduate Building
Instructors: Michelle Kaczmarek and Mckenzie Eggers

This final workshop will be devoted to peer review. Participants will be expected to use skills and knowledge acquired in the previous summer workshops to help their peers revise works in progress. With the intention of soliciting feedback that can lead towards publication, each attendee will be asked to upload a draft of a current work-in-progress to be shared with other participants by Monday, July 3rd. Participants will then be placed into feedback groups based on subject and will read and respond to their group members’ work in advance of the workshop. As you read, please be sure to note where and how the writers in your group can improve their work so that you have detailed feedback for them on the 7th. The workshop will be devoted to sharing this feedback and devising revision plans for future action.

All graduate students, regardless of disciplinary affiliation or English fluency, are welcome to enroll. Penn State encourages qualified persons with disabilities to participate in its programs and activities. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation or have questions about the physical access provided, please contact us (gwc.psu@gmail.com) in advance of your participation or visit.

Spring 2017 Workshops

 

All graduate students, regardless of disciplinary affiliation or English fluency, are welcome to enroll.

Welcome Back: Beginning the New Year in Style, Thursday, February 16, 2017, 4:00 – 6:00 PM, 117 Henderson

Instructor: Michelle Kaczmarek

Registration for this workshop ends 02/15/2017 at 12:00 PM.

This workshop will provide a refresher on academic style through practice with the grammatical forms and stylistic possibilities of the English language. Therein, it will introduce participants to new methods for achieving clarity in their academic writing at the sentence level. The workshop will be divided into two parts: 1) a discussion of general style principles and the tools necessary for expanding stylistic repertoires, and 2) a peer review session where participants will practice the strategies outlined in the lecture. Participants are encouraged to bring two copies of one of their own works to workshop.


Revising for Publication: Introducing your Research, Friday, March 24, 2017, 12:00 – 2:00 PM, Osmond Lab 112

Instructor: Michelle Kaczmarek

Registration for this workshop ends 03/23/2017 at 12:00 PM.

A strong introduction creates interest and convinces editors and reviewers that your manuscript is worth publishing. This workshop will introduce methods for revising graduate work for academic publication by focusing on the beginning of any manuscript – the Introduction. It will present the necessary components for crafting a strong Introduction as well as provide different methods for achieving this goal. The latter half of the workshop will be devoted to peer review in which participants will practice general revision and editing skills with a current Introduction that they are working on. Accordingly, participants are encouraged to bring a draft to the workshop of an Introduction for a manuscript they are revising for publication.


Strategies for Writing Literature Reviews, Tuesday, April 4, 2017, 2:00 – 4:00 PM, Osmond Lab 110

Instructor: Mckenzie Eggers

Registration for this workshop ends 04/03/2017 at 12:00 PM.

Just in time for seminar paper season, this workshop will cover the basics of writing a literature review from start to finish. Material will be applicable both to literature reviews that exist as part of a larger introduction and to more extensive literature reviews that stand on their own. This workshop will address how to narrow your search for sources, how to read sources critically, and how to effectively critique, analyze, and organize those sources in your literature review. The workshop will suggest a variety of organizational patterns for literature reviews and address some major revision concerns. It will end with a peer review exercise in which participants will apply new knowledge to one another’s literature reviews. Accordingly, participants are encouraged to bring drafts of introductions or literature reviews (in-progress or complete).